Ghoulish

morbidly interested in death or disaster.

“Among Evangelical Christians, all of whom await the Second Coming of Jesus, there are historically two camps: postmillennialists and premillennialists. For most of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, most were of the “post” variety, meaning that they expected the Messiah’s return after the thousand-year reign of peace. In order to hasten His arrival, they set out to create that harmonious world here and now, fighting for the abolition of slavery, prohibition of alcohol, public education, and women’s literacy.The chaos of the Civil War and industrialization caused many evangelicals to rethink their optimism. They determined that Jesus would actually arrive before the final judgment. Therefore any efforts toward a just society here on earth were futile; what mattered was perfecting one’s faith. As historian Randall Balmer writes, these believers “retreated into a theology of despair, one that essentially ceded the temporal world to Satan and his minions.” ― Mark Sundeen, The Man Who Quit Money

It’s Halloween! The day where little ghosts, goblins, witches, and devils come out in hopes to go from house to house, taking all they can get from the people inside the well-lit homes. Or, as the conservative evangelicals and fundies call it, “End Times” or “Everyday until final judgement”.

Today is the day we dress up our kids and they get candy bars so we can eat them after they go to bed. We parade these little devils and goblins, princes and princesses, and superheroes and superheroine around our neighborhoods, enjoying the sweet smell of decaying leaves and hopefully hot cocoa ( if you are luckily enough to have that type og neighbor. They are the real MVPs.) We admire the families that put months into planning their scary displays, spooky songs, and homemade popcorn balls. This is one day of the year for many of us .Some, like myself, remember lives lost the on All Saint’s Day, making it more of a two-day event. For some, this is an all year event. These people call it “End Times”.

In this scenario, there are still two types living this spooky life. There are the decorators, the scene setters. They create this scary world, filled with abominations, God’s wrath, storms sent to punish, earthquakes to shake down “the gays”, and evil brown men in women in head wraps. Satan rules this world and he has cast upon us evil spirits in all of us that make life go bump in the night. Every day, they get up in the morning and work hard on their displays. Then, there are the “beggars”. Begging for mercy from this evil world. They walk amongst the ghouls and goblins yelling “Repent! The end is here and you all will be devoured by the eternal flames of hell! Throw out your satanic secular ways or you will find yourself alone!” They receive treats of shame, loose gun laws, cakes made for straight couples, religious liberty, and decades long wars on those scary bearded brown men.

This is ghoulish, yet very profitable. Stores line up trick-or-treat bags and buckets for children (and parents) that want to get all the candy they’re little tummies can take. In evangelism, some sell end of times buckets. That way you can ride out the storm that is God’s wrath. For people who call Halloween “Satan’s Day”, you’d think they wouldn’t like living a daily spooktacular.

This is all in fun. If someone wants to prepare for the Coming of Christ in whatever way they see fit, that is fine with me. I don’t have to take them seriously, just like they don’t take me seriously. I just wish they didn’t make God look like that other neighbor down the street. You know the one. He’s angry all the time, yelling at the trick-or-treaters to get off his lawn, shaking his fist in his wrath, in his contempt for fun. I can’t say for certain what God is like completely, I just do not think He’s Old Man Withersbottom down the street, scaring all the kids away.